We are excited to announce the release of 2024.7 of Visual Assist! This update introduces several powerful features aimed at improving your coding efficiency and project navigation. Download the release now.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s new in this version:
Release Highlights
New Features:
1. Context-sensitive Naming in Quick Action and Refactoring menu items (Shift + Alt + Q)
The Quick Action and Refactoring menu is a powerful menu that shows different options depending on the context and the placement of the text caret. For instance, it changes depending on whether you are on a symbol, include directive, or whitespace—and with or without a selection.
In this release, the menu will now take into consideration other symbols and applicable features that will make naming much more intuitive and inclusive of more possible actions. This also marks the start of making some of our menus more ubiquitous.
2. Improved Read and Write Reference Highlighting
This adds an option to disable the highlighting of references when it is not needed. This is to improve readability and reduce visual clutter.
Specifically, read and write references will now stop highlighting as soon as you move your mouse away from the reference. This keeps your workspace clean while maintaining the ability to easily locate references when needed.
Visual Assist’s highlighting.
3. Feature: Sort Methods in Source (Beta)
We’re excited to release the Sort Methods in Source feature as a beta version! This feature allows you to quickly organize and sort methods in your source files, making it easier to keepnavigate large codebases organised. We welcome your feedback as we refine this feature for future updates.
4. Feature: Promote Lambda to Method (Beta)
The Promote Lambda to Method refactoringfeature is now available in beta. This feature allows you to easily convert lambda functions into regular methods, helping to streamline your code structure and improve readability.
It is particularly useful for instances where you would like to reuse the same function in other places in the code. This feature takes that lambda and promotes it to a method in the corresponding class for it.
Test it out and let us know how we can improve it! The settings can be found under the refactorings menu under Extensions under VisualAssistX, or just right click while in a lambda.
5. VA Nav Bar Dropdown for Project Switching
Switching between projects has never been easier! The VA Navigation Bar now allows you to seamlessly switch between multiple projects within your solution. This improvement makes project navigation faster and more intuitive—especially when working in large, multi-project environments that may have distinct code undefined in other workspaces.
6. New reserved string for VA code snippets
VA’s code snippets will now have more reserved string keywords for finding specific parent folders. Reserved strings are keywords that automatically expand when a VA Snippet is invoked. A reserved string obtains its value from an IDE setting, project property, system setting, or surrounding code.
In this case, we added a reserved string for automatically inputting the directory to the Cmake parent folder.
Reserved strings are grouped by type, and can be inserted in the VA Snippet editor via context menu, toolbar button, or keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+I).
7. Option to Adjust Overwrite Behavior When Accepting a Completion
Set up overwriting behavior options Visual Assist Extensions Options ? Enhanced Listboxes.
You can now choose how Visual Assist handles suggestions from a listbox. For instance, when you’re typing in between a word, VA would suggest to complete what you are typing.
There are different results depending on whether the symbol succeeding the caret is known. If it is not a known symbol, VA overwrites the entire text after the caret with the auto-complete suggestion.
In any case, you can now choose the behavior of overwriting by navigating to the Visual Assist Extensions Options ? Enhanced Listboxes ? Overwrite text when accepting from a listbox.
Bug fixes and improvements:
- Fixed error when renaming items in particular cases
- Fixed Move implementation header file error when on first line
- Fixed quick info menu not showing all options properly when enabled.
? Availability & Feedback
This release is available starting September 30 and can be downloaded via the Whole Tomato downloads page. As always, we encourage your feedback, especially on beta and alpha features, to help us continue improving and delivering the best experience for developers.
Thank you for your continued support and happy coding! If you have any questions or encounter any issues, feel free to reach out to our support team.
Frequently Asked Questions About Visual Assist 2024.7
1. What are the main highlights of the Visual Assist 2024.7 release?
Visual Assist 2024.7 focuses on improving developer productivity through smarter refactoring menus, improved reference highlighting, new beta refactoring features, enhanced project navigation, and multiple quality-of-life improvements.
2. What does context-aware naming mean in Visual Assist?
Context-aware naming adapts Quick Action and Refactoring menu items based on the caret position and surrounding code. This helps developers see only the most relevant actions, making refactoring faster and more intuitive.
3. What is the Sort Methods in Source feature used for?
Sort Methods in Source is a beta feature that allows developers to automatically organize methods within a source file. It is designed to improve readability and maintainability in large or complex codebases.
4. When should I use the Promote Lambda to Method feature?
The Promote Lambda to Method feature is useful when a lambda expression becomes complex or needs to be reused elsewhere. It converts the lambda into a standard class method, improving code structure and reuse.
5. Where can I enable or manage beta refactoring features in Visual Assist?
Beta refactoring features can be enabled through the Visual Assist Extensions options under the Refactorings menu, or by right-clicking directly within supported code contexts.
6. How does the VA Navigation Bar improve project switching?
The VA Navigation Bar dropdown allows developers to quickly switch between projects within a solution. This is especially helpful when working in large, multi-project environments.
7. What are reserved strings in Visual Assist code snippets?
Reserved strings are predefined keywords that automatically expand based on IDE, project, or system settings. In Visual Assist 2024.7, a new reserved string was added to automatically insert the CMake parent directory.
8. Can I control how Visual Assist overwrites text when accepting a completion?
Yes. Visual Assist 2024.7 introduces options that let you customize overwrite behavior when accepting suggestions from listboxes, giving you more predictable auto-completion results.
9. Where can I download Visual Assist 2024.7 and share feedback?
Visual Assist 2024.7 is available via the official downloads page, and user feedback is encouraged, especially for beta features, to help guide future updates from Whole Tomato.
